Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is such a great holiday! It's so nice to have amazing food and a relaxing day with family. We stayed home this year and had Grandma and Grandpa Williams, Uncle Leroy and a good friend, Brandon over. Grandpa Riley and Douglas cooked a 22 lb. turkey, a 12 lb. glazed ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, braided egg bread, pumpkin and pecan pies. Oh my goodness, we were so full! Oh yeah, and I did my 2% by making spinach salad. We have plenty of leftovers! We of course missed all our family members who are far away. We love all you guys!

Thanksgiving is such a nice holiday to reflect on our blessings and this year we appreciate that we have the gospel and a happy family. Life is a blessing and we are happily living each day.

We sat down as a family and wrote lists of things we are thankful for. It's amazing how much we have when we sit down and really count our blessings. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Grandpa and Grandma Williams

Douglas seasoning the turkey with lemon pepper. Yummy!!

Douglas, Brandon and Leroy chowing down.

Marley was so tired! He threw a huge fit during lunch.

Anita and Douglas

Gracie loved the ham!!!

I tried really hard to get her to laugh for this picture.

The Williams Fam

(Marley was sleeping)

I love my girl!

Nurse Douglas

Douglas is wrapping up his first semester in Nursing school. He has done so well and it's amazing that he's a quarter finished with his RN. He finished his first final yesterday and passed with flying colors and compliments from the instructor. We are really proud of him and appreciate all the hard work he does to get an education.

Marley Man

For Marley's second birthday, we had his pictures taken. I really like how they turned out even with the big bruise on his forehead. Douglas convinced me to have them taken even with the bruise to capture Marley in all his 2 year old glory.

We are so grateful to have such a sweet little boy in our family. He is very thoughtful and energetic. He loves his cars, his grandparents and nursery. He is very good at communicating and saying things that melt your heart. He is a very special boy!

Halloween - Part 2

Halloween is just so much fun!! We were choosy this year and decided to only do the ward trunk or treat and Halloween night door to door trick or treating. The kids had so much fun! Marley really understood it this year and ran as fast as his little legs could go to each house and car. For the trunk or treat, Gracie was Ariel and even wore the red wig! (surprising but great) Marley didn't want to wear any of the costumes but he would wear his skeleton jammies, which he's is love with. He calls them his glowing jammies. Douglas made us some great pirate costumes. He is so creative and spent many hours at the sewing machine. I'm very grateful for him doing so much otherwise I would have worn my $5 target Halloween shirt.

Halloween night Grandma and Grandpa Williams joined us and we took the kids trick or treating. It was perfect weather with just a chill in the air, and the kids had that giddy Halloween spirit that makes it such a fun holiday. Gracie wore a Tigger outfit instead of Ariel and Marley stuck with his jammies.

That night Gracie said the sweetest prayer. She said," Thank you for this beautiful trick-or-treat day with candy and this beautiful life." It was so real and heartfelt. She really does love this season!

We all had a lot of fun, too much sugar and a much needed extra hour of sleep. Now for the next holiday!

Two pirates, a skeleton and a mermaid, I guess they could all be connected to one story, right?

Douglas did a fabulous job on our costumes. He made his shirt and my hat. The rest we found in our closet. Not too bad for not spending any money.

Marley loved all the candy, he started eating most of it with the wrapper on.


Gracie was so happy, she loved seeing all her friends and all the princesses.


Our crooked family picture. We set the camera on the hood of the car. Oh well, it was a fun night and we're happy Grandma and Grandpa Williams came with us.

So happy it's Halloween!!!!!!

Douglas, Gracie and Grandpa Riley walking the streets in search of candy.

Tigger and Pirate

Halloween Fun!!

Halloween is such a fun holiday and Gracie and Marley LOVED it this year! Gracie was very excited to decorate the house and she told me that she would really like some of those big inflatable characters in our front yard. I said no, but we still did lots of fun activities to feel the halloween spirit. The kids loved singing halloween songs, making cookies, carving pumpkins and driving past houses with lots of decorations. There was one particular house the kids loved on the way to school. Every morning they were so excited to see the pumpkins, skull, witch, cat and spider webs. They went all out and the kids enjoyed it very much. I'm going to have to thank those people! Here are some pictures of the kids doing fun halloween activities.

Making Jack-O-Lanterns

They didn't like like the gooey stuff, but they were troopers and still pulled it out.

As a reward for doing well in school, Gracie and I put together this skeleton. She was excited to work towards a reward and she loved using the fasteners to make him move and dance.

Halloween Jammies
I just couldn't turn down these skeleton pajamas!
The kids love them because they glow in the dark.

It just wouldn't be halloween without sugar cookies.
I'm not sure Gracie has enough sprinkles.

cookies, frosting and sprinkles.....makes happy kids

(and a big mess, but it's totally worth it!)

After helping me sweep up the sprinkles, Gracie stood up on her chair and lip synked to Thriller, her favorite song. It was quite a performance and she asked me to play it over and over again.

A few months ago she asked me if we could go to a Michael Jackson and Vincent Price concert and hear Thriller. It was so cute! We had quite a conversation after explaining why that wasn't possible.

Marley's Thriller Pose

Each day when we get in the car he askes me to play Eye of the Tiger and Fridder (Thriller)

He just can't get enough!